How to Compress a PDF File: 4 Easy Tricks on PC & Mac

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A step-by-step guide to making your PDF smaller and more portable

Written by Travis Boylls

Last Updated: November 25, 2024 Tested

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Using Adobe Online Compressor

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Using Preview on Mac

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Using Adobe Acrobat Pro

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Using Microsoft Word

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Video

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Q&A

If the PDF you're working on is too large to email or takes up too much space on your computer, you can compress it to reduce its file size. Compressing a PDF reduces its quality, which makes its file size smaller. Try Adobe's free online PDF compressor to compress a PDF for free, or use Preview if you're on a Mac. If you subscribe to Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can compress a PDF using the Optimize PDF tool. You can also reduce a PDF's size by compressing it with Microsoft Word. This wikiHow guide will teach you quick and easy ways to reduce the size of a PDF file by compressing it.

Things You Should Know

Even if you don't pay for Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can use Adobe's online PDF compressor for free.
If you have a Mac, you can compress a PDF by reducing its size in Preview.
You can open a PDF in Microsoft Word and compress it, or save a Word document as a compressed PDF.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Using Adobe Online Compressor

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1
Go to https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/compress-pdf.html in a web browser. Adobe now offers a free online PDF compression tool that makes it easy to reduce the size of large PDF files.
- This tool will not work if the PDF is encrypted.
Alternatively, you can click Select a file and double-click the PDF file you want to compress.

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The High option will result in the smallest file with standard quality, while Low will only compress the PDF a small amount. If you're not sure which option to choose, opt for Medium compression.
This compresses your PDF and creates a download link.
The PDF is now compressed to a smaller size.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Using Preview on Mac

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1
Open your PDF in Preview. Navigate to the PDF file on your Mac, then double-click it to open it in Preview by default. Alternatively, you can use the following steps to open a PDF in Preview:
- Click Preview on the Launchpad to open the app.
- Click File in the menu bar at the top.
- Click Open... in the drop-down menu.
- Select a file in the dialog box.
- Click Open.
It's in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
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Click Export…. It's near the middle of the drop-down menu. A dialog box will open.
- Be sure not to choose "Export as PDF," as you won't have the option to compress it that way.
If you want to create a new name for the compressed PDF, type it next to "Export as."
Use the drop-down menu next to "Quartz Filter" to select "Reduce File Size." ^{[1]
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Use the drop-down menu next to "Where:" to select a location to save the file. By default, it will be saved to your desktop.
The compressed PDF has been saved on your Mac.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Using Adobe Acrobat Pro

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1
Open Adobe Acrobat Pro. If you subscribe to Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can use its built-in tools to compress any PDF file on your PC or Mac. To get started, open Adobe Acrobat Pro.
- There's no need to open your PDF just yet—just launch Acrobat Pro for now.
You'll see it at the top-left corner of Acrobat.
To do this, find the "Optimize PDF" icon under "Protect & Standardize," click its drop-down menu, then select Open. The "Open" dialog will expand.
Your PDF will now open in Acrobat.^{[2]
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This button is in the toolbar just above your PDF's preview.
In most cases, you should choose Retain Existing here to ensure your PDF will be compatible with the latest version of Acrobat. Alternatively, you can choose a different version of Acrobat now.^{[3]
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If you want to overwrite the existing PDF instead of creating a separate optimized version, you can save the PDF with the same file name in the current folder. Enter a new name for the PDF file and click Save to create your smaller PDF file.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Using Microsoft Word

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1
Open a document in Microsoft Word. Using Microsoft Word, you can export any document as a compressed PDF file. You can open an existing PDF in Word to use this compression tool or start with a regular Word doc.
- If you open a PDF in Word, it may not retain all of its original formatting.
It's at the top-left corner of the window.
If you're using Windows, click this button on the right panel to export the document as a PDF.
If you're using a Mac, you'll see this option near the bottom of the window.^{[4]
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Microsoft Support
Technical support and product information from Microsoft.

Go to source} If you're using Windows, PDF should already be selected next to "Save As type."
At the bottom of the window, you'll see two options for compression. To compress the PDF to a smaller size, choose Minimum size (Windows) or Best for electronic distribution and accessibility (Mac).
To overwrite the existing PDF file, keep the same name and folder. Otherwise, you can modify the file name and/or choose a different folder now.
This saves a compressed version of the PDF to the selected location.

Community Q&A

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Question

How can I compress any PDF to 200 KB?

Community Answer

You can't. A PDF can only be compressed so far. If you have some file size limit, your best alternative is to upload it to a cloud service.

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Question

Of these options, which are lossless and which are lossy? (ie. which is best for text pdfs)?

Neelam Jain

Community Answer

The text in PDF is mostly gzip compressed. Hence, there will not be any significant gain by any compression technique. The compression level is dependent on the size/resolution of images in PDF. This is a lossy compression where images inside PDF are compressed. I have generally used miniimagesvideos.com/pdf for high compression ratio. There could be some gain in PDF due to removal of some of the unwanted objects in PDF. However, this will not be significant.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
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